Saraki, Ekweremadu mourn
By Abdullahi M. Gulloma and Taiye Odewale, Abuja
The State House correspondent of Channels Television, Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi, is dead.
Onuekusi died in the early hours of yesterday at the age of 55 after battling with kidney and other related ailments for about six weeks.
He had covered the State House for the Channels Television since 1998.
The deceased was a friend to all the State House correspondents.
In a tribute, State House correspondent of Punch Newspapers, Mr. Olamilekan Adetayo, described the deceased as “a good man.”
“He was a very hardworking man, one of the attributes that attracted him to me. He was always holding the Channels Television-branded microphone as if his life depended on it.
“He did that to the point that we joined some people who paid homage to former President Jonathan on a Christmas Day and the former President could not hide his feeling.
“You are still holding this your thing today again,” Jonathan said, referring to Chukwuma and his trademark microphone.
“When it seemed Chukwuma is talking angrily, just interject with one funny statement and he will burst into laughter and say, ‘these people won’t allow one to talk. The case has ended,” Adetayo said.
Meanwhile, President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu, have expressed sadness over the death of the State House Correspondent of Channels Television, Mr. Chukwuma Onuekwusi, in the early hours of yesterday after a brief illness.
Saraki, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja, described the late Onuekwusi as “a hardworking, passionate and conscientious reporter” who left nobody in doubt about his professional competence.
He commiserated with the immediate family of the deceased, the management and staff of Channels Television and the State House Correspondents over the loss of the broadcast journalist.
“The news of the demise of Chukwuma Onuekwusi came to me with great shock. He was a thoroughbred broadcast journalist whose reports always leave you wanting more,” he said.
Also, the Deputy Senate President, described the late journalist as “a thoroughbred professional,” noted that his death was a huge loss, not only for Channels Television, but also the media industry and the nation in general.
He said: “I received with pain and deep sense of loss the news of the passing on of Mr. Onuekwusi. He was a thoroughbred journalist, who brought a high sense of professionalism to bear on his work. He made Channels Television reports on the Presidency authoritative and delightful for millions of Nigerians, including me.
He prayed God to grant Onuekwusi’s family, Channels Television, and the Nigerian media industry the fortitude to bear the loss.
